Review: A Pale Light in the Black

A Pale Light in the Black by K.B. Wagers
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Author K.B. Wagers latest series offers a space opera world that feels like the lovechild of The Expanse and Becky Chamber's Wayfarers series. Although it lacks the species diversity of Chamber's books, it does offer racial, orientation, and economic diversity, and the found family of the crew of the Zuma's Ghost, a NeoG (Near-Earth Orbital Guard vessel is similar in feel to Wayfarers. Set in the 2400s, centuries after a worldwide societal collapse, A Pale Light in the Black is equal parts military police procedural, big military tournament (the Boarding Games), and corporate espionage mystery. I'm not sure that the blend of these parts always worked well, and the resolution of the mystery that is threaded through the book came quite quickly at the end, with a paper-thin villain who shows up in the last fifth of the book out of nowhere, with a cause that seems to come out of nowhere, as well. The various characters, Max, Rosa, Jenks, Nika etc. are all enjoyable enough but the dialogue between them and their various significant others, children, and parents at times felt stilted and a bit too formulaic. Wagers writes action scenes quite well though, and the novel is at its best when the crew of the Zuma's Ghost are working problems and planning a daring rescue.

The powerful Carmichael family, of which Maxine is the youngest child, is a shadowy presence throughout the novel. We meet Max's siblings and learn of their psychological abuse and manipulation at the hands of parents in a powerful family, with strict expectations of conformity. I'm sure that we will be seeing more of them in subsequent installments. I'm also curious to see what Wagers plans for dealing with the recent disability of one of the characters. In spite of a few reservations about the plotting issues mentioned above, I'd definitely pick up the next installment because I grew to like the characters.

A Pale Light in the Black is a light space opera read that is quite LGBTQ friendly. The audiobook, narrated by Marisha Tapera, was an easy listen.

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